The prior art is replete with cooking apparatus that meets the foregoing general description. Early examples include Canadian Patent No. 200,271 (Emerick) granted on May 25, 1920, and Canadian Patent No. 254,012 (Lorton) granted on Sep. 22, 1925. Both Emerick and Lorton disclose cooking apparatus comprising an elongated post supportable in an upright position in proximity to a cooking fire. Each includes a collar slidably mounted on the post and a cooking platform such as a grill or a pot or a pan holder, and each requires the collar to bite or bind with the post in order to hold the platform at a desired elevation above the fire. Such arrangements are prone to unwanted slippage and at the very least will require relatively careful sizing of the collar in relation to the post to achieve a sufficient bite or binding effect with the post. The effectiveness that is achieved may depend upon various factors including the weight of cooking platform, the hardness or smoothness of the parts that are expected to bind, and variations in sizes and other characteristics that may occur with temperature. Whatever effectiveness is achieved may deteriorate with wear and tear.
An example of a post and platform construction where the position of the platform can be controlled in a more positive manner is disclosed in Canadian Patent No. 605,694 granted to Martin et al. on Sep. 27, 1960. Here, the collar includes a simple clamp bolt which may be loosened to move the collar back and forth along the length of the post, and tightened to the post to secure the collar with the platform in a desired position. However, such an arrangement undesirably requires the user to directly hold and manipulate not only the bolt but also the collar, or the platform or platform mounting mechanism, while tightening or loosening the clamp bolt. Such manipulation not only can be awkward but also messy if the various parts that are grasped have become spattered with oils, cooking fats or the like. Further, depending upon proximity to the fire, some of the parts may become quite hot.
More recent examples include Canadian Patent No. 737,246 granted to Petrie on Jun. 28, 1966. Petrie shows a cooking platform secured to a collar which in turn is slidably and rotatably mounted on an upright post. In one embodiment, the position of the collar on the post is positively secured by a cable or tether which is secured at one end to the collar and which includes at its other end a pin mechanism that can be hooked by means of a pin into any one of a large number of holes formed in the upper portion of the post. In another embodiment, the pin mechanism is replaced by a "positioning member" adapted to frictionally engage any selected position on the upper end of the post and thereby secure the position of the collar lower down on the post. In the first embodiment, the pin mechanism appears fragile and has a relatively complex configuration. Further, it undesirably requires a large number of holes to be formed in the post. The second embodiment lacks positive securement by reason of its dependency on frictional engagement and thus may be considered as being subject to the same disadvantages as the designs of Emery and Lorton noted above. In the case of both embodiments, any elevational adjustment that a user might wish to make effectively requires the user to use finger tip control when grasping either the pin mechanism or the positioning member, as the case may be.
A still more recent example is to be found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,269,164 granted to Van Grinsven et al. on May 26, 1981. Van Grinsven et al. disclose a circular cooking platform suspended from an inverted L-shaped post, the leg of the inverted L extending upright from a ground post in which, it appears, that the L-shaped post may pivot. The platform is suspended by rigging from a tether, a portion of the tether being strung through an upper end of the post and a remaining portion comprising a link chain adjustably attached to a tarp hook secured at a lower position on the post. The elevation of the platform can be adjusted by engaging a selected link of the chain with the hook. Such a configuration requires a relatively large number of parts and may be considered relatively complex given the basic task at hand which is to adjustably position a simple cooking platform in relation to a cooking fire. The need for rigging is considered undesirable because it interferes with access to the cooking platform. Further, the rigged and suspended platform in inherently unstable and requires added stabilizing means to address the problem.
Prior art designs reveal a variety of configurations for the cooking platform which form part of the apparatus. These include platforms having a rectangular perimeter, platforms having a circular perimeter, and platforms having a pie shaped perimeter. However, in deciding upon a particular configuration, it appears that little or no attention has been paid to the relationship between the extent and character of the platform's cooking area or area of reach, and the leveraging or tipping moment force that the platform will exert on a supporting post.
Accordingly, a primary object of the present invention is to provide new and improved cooking apparatus of the type where a cooking platform is adjustably supported to extend over a cooking fire from an upright post.
A related object of the present invention is to provide new and improved cooking apparatus of the foregoing type which positively secures the position of the cooking platform in relation to the cooking fire while permitting a given platform position to be easily and quickly adjusted.
A further object of the present invention is to provide new and improved cooking apparatus of the foregoing type which can be fabricated in a rugged configuration from a minimal number of parts that do not require careful tolerancing in their manufacture.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide as part of such new and improved apparatus a cooking platform configured and mounted to the post in a manner that strikes an advantageous practical balance between the cooking area or area of reach of the platform and the leveraging or tipping moment force of the platform on the post.